Automatic detection fo normal drill breakthrough through planar bone tissues of unknown thickness

摘要

The increasing implementation of minimal access surgery is placing greater demands upon the abilities of surgeons to perform high precision operations working through difficult access. Automatic tools are being designed to assist surgeons in such operaitons. These offer the advantages of steady tool motion coupled with the ability to operate and react to a higher resolution of positional and force measurement than is possible with manual methods. High precision cutting and milling operations ahve been attempted automatically in mediums that can be considered rigid. More recently, research has investigated methods for extending the benefits of automation technology to soft and flexible mediums. The stapedotomy tool reviewed here is an advanced example of this and provides a method for controlling drill penetration through homogeneous but flexible bone tissue using drilling data.